SINGAPORE - Singapore on Wednesday (Feb 14) joined London and Auckland in being named "Founding Cities" in a new global initiative designed to get millions of people active in cities around the world.
Known as Active Citizens Worldwide, it has been developed to provide policymakers and strategic agencies with evidence-based guidance for development of physical activity and sport interventions, Sport Singapore said in a statement.
It added that the initiative aims to "provide a unique opportunity to establish global benchmarks and shared expertise around physical activity behaviours in cities across the globe".
Dr Chiang Hock Woon, deputy chief executive officer of Sport Singapore, which governs sport here, said: "Sport Singapore is privileged to be one of three founding cities of the Active Citizens Worldwide project.
"As part of our Vision 2030 sports master plan, we are committed to adopt sport as a strategy to encourage our people to lead healthier, better and fulfilling lives.
"We look forward to a successful collaboration through sharing insights and best practices. We hope that this movement will encourage like-minded cities to also be part of this in the future."
The Active Citizens Worldwide initiative will deliver initial benchmarking data in the second quarter of this year through a global congress and publicly-available data analysis tools scheduled to be made available later in the year.
Commenting on the launch of Active Citizens Worldwide, Tove Okunniwa, chief executive of London Sport whose target is to get a million Londoners more physically active by 2020, said: "Active Citizens Worldwide offers an exciting opportunity to broaden our understanding of what drives participation in cities across the globe. Strong insight and data are vital to effective decision-making for physical activity and sport, and the Active Citizens Worldwide initiative will afford tremendous opportunities to learn from and share global best-practice.
"We are delighted to make London a part of this international community and look forward to working with Auckland, Singapore and other counterparts in further cities as Active Citizens Worldwide grows throughout 2018."
Dr Sarah Sandley, chief executive of Aktive, the Auckland-based body focused on getting more people involved in recreation and playing sport in Auckland, added: "Aktive is committed to helping people and communities across Auckland to achieve sport and recreation habits for life.
"Auckland's role as a Founding City in Active Citizens Worldwide will assist with actionable insights and monitoring that will further support Aktive and its partners with practical initiatives to deliver growth in physical activity. Our involvement will provide another valuable tool that will assist us here on the ground in Auckland."
New cities will be added to the Active Citizens Worldwide community throughout 2018, with interested cities encouraged to contact either London Sport, Aktive, or SportSG representatives for further information.
